VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Ticker) -- Gary Payton had 40
points and 10 assists as the Seattle SuperSonics put an
upsetting situation behind them with a 113-103 victory over the
Vancouver Grizzlies.

One night after a tough loss to Canada's other team, the Toronto
Raptors, and coach Paul Westphal's refusal to wear a microphone,
Seattle used a 21-4 third-quarter run en route to its fourth
straight win over the Grizzlies. The win was the Sonics 16th in
18 all-time meetings with Vancouver.

Ruben Patterson added 15 points and eight rebounds for the
Sonics, who have won four of their last six games to move 1 1/2
games ahead of Minnesota for the sixth spot in the Western
Conference.

"Every game is important right now because we're trying to place
ourselves," Payton said. "We only have 18 games to go and we're
trying to get 50 wins. And if we keep playing the way we're
playing, I think we'll get there."

Earlier today, Westphal was fined $100,000 for not wearing a
microphone during Sunday's nationally televised game.

"I'm with my coach," said Payton. "If he doesn't want to wear
the mike, you shouldn't force someone to wear the mike. You
shouldn't force someone to say what you're going to say in your
huddle. It will be on TV and people can get those tapes and see
what play you're going to run. And that should be for the
privacy of our team. Whatever you say at our bench should stay
at our bench, and I think all our players want that way."

Bryant Reeves, who scored a season-high 31 points and grabbed 12
rebounds, hit 11 consecutive field goals, setting a Vancouver
single-game record. After going 11-for-11 over the first 23
minutes, Reeves finished just 13-for-16 from the field.

"I thought Big Country was Shaq for a while," Westphal said. "He
was over there asking the scorers' table what the record was in
this building for the first half. He came back to earth a
little bit in the second half. Our defense tightened up,
particularly in the third quarter, which enabled us to get a
little bit of a margin and then Gary Payton took over the rest
of the way."

However, Payton took Reeves' scoring in stride.

"Everybody in the NBA can play," he said. "If you're in the NBA,
you should be able to do something, especially if you're
starting. I'm not impressed by anyone scoring points. He's
been in the league five years. He should be able to do that."

Shareef Abdur-Rahim collected 17 points and seven rebounds for
the Grizzlies, who suffered their ninth consecutive loss. It is
their second losing streak of nine games or more this season.
Vancouver dropped 11 games in a row from November 16-December 6.

"We were matching them offensively but unfortunately we were not
matching them defensively," Grizzlies coach Lionel Hollins said.
"I think it was just the turnovers made in the third quarter
that also really hurt us. We did some good things offensively
but Gary Payton was a monster."

Seattle took its largest lead of the opening quarter, 24-16, on
a jumper by Horace Grant with 3:10 left in the first before the
Grizzlies closed with a 12-5 run.

The second quarter was more competitive, with four lead changes
and five ties. Reeves missed his first field goal of the first
half with 25 seconds remaining as Vancouver tied a season high
with 58 points in a opening half but still trailed by two.

After Abdur-Rahim's layup with 11:39 left in the third tied the
game, 60-60, the Sonics scored 21 of the next 25 points. Payton
had 11 points in the run and 15 in the quarter.

"Coach lets the ball get to my hands a lot and tonight we
isolated a lot," Payton said. "And when Coach gives me the
opportunity like that, he wants me to make something happen. I
figure it's my job to let it happen. And today I was getting to
the basket and converting my shots."

Payton said that he was not inspired by a Vancouver promotion
that said Grizzlies point guard Mike Bibby would turn him
"inside out."

"I joked about it a little bit," the All-Star guard said. "But
when you see stuff like that. It doesn't concern me. I just go
out and play my game. I'm not averaging 20-something points for
nothing. For someone to come out and say they're going to do
this or that or whatever the campaign was, if that's what they
want to do to get fans to come to the game, then let them. I
just try to come out and play for the Sonics to win."

Bibby had 12 points and nine assists but shot just 6-of-15.

The Grizzlies used a 12-4 run to start the fourth to pull within
96-92 with 7:48 left. But Seattle went on a 12-6 spurt to push
its advantage back to double digits.

After scoring 25 points in the first half, Bryant was limited to
just six the rest of the game.

"The Sonics played well in the second half," the 7-foot center
said. "In the third quarter, they did a great job defensively,
doubling up and taking away the outlet pass. I had some
turnovers in the third that really hurt us. And that's my
responsiblity. I felt kind of good but I'd feel a lot better if
we'd won. It's all for nothing right now without a win."

Brent Barry scored 14 points and Grant had 13 and 11 rebounds
for the Sonics, who shot 50 percent (43-of-86) from the field
and recorded 12 steals.